Friday, October 17, 2008

So what if MS "steals" PS3 games?

I'm sure a lot of you read DarkPower's "Does Microsoft's 'Stealing' Sony Franchises Hurt Their Own Credibility?" post and found it to be a good read. I certainly did, but that doesn't mean I agree with every argument the fellow had to dish out. Unlike DarkPower, I'm a self-admitted Sony fanboy through and through, the difference being, I consider myself a very level-headed one.

Like many fanboys, I'd hate to see old exclusive Sony IPs go exclusive to rival platforms, but will I say all these MS "heists" are hurting the Xbox 360's credibility? The short answer is no. A longer version of the response is OH HELL NO.

Here, then, is my point-by-point rebuttal of DarkPower's article:

MS is not hurting its credibility by buying IPs. We've seen it do that same doozie with Windows software for years. Did anyone mind? Just sourgraping execs who can't take the heat of competition. MS will always get flamed for releasing buggy software and faulty hardware, but drumming up third-party support is a completely different thing.

Did DarkPower miss on reading dev interviews where game makers openly state that it's easier to develop games for the Xbox 360 than the PS3? That's a good reason in itself for third-parties to come to MS without much persuasion. Just ask Gabe Newell.

So what if Microsoft is paying off third-party developers? That's free trade for you right there. If you want to win, you have to compete. The burden is on Sony to respond by either matching offers or by presenting developers incentives in other forms.

Third-party developers exist not for loyalty but for profit. These are major investments who are pressured to rake in the green. Development costs are on the rise and the bad economy isn't helping either, so they have to go multiplatform to boost sales in order to survive. Multiplatform releases are better than risking having devs run out of business and gamers being left with no games.

The absence of a single, dominant platform where third-party games can make big revenues in a single release is forcing their hands to push the multiplatform button. Yes, there's the Wii these days but it's not a playing field which is as level as the original PS and the PS2. The Wii is dominated by first-party titles while the PS2 was perceived as a home for all niches.

DarkPower has forgotten how the PlayStation 2 also benefitted from snagging exclusives from other platforms. Ever heard about a little thing called Resident Evil 4? How about the once-Xbox exclusive Splinter Cell franchise? Oh, and let's not get started about picking the bones of Sega IPs after the Dreamcast tanked. Did Sony lose credibility? History would say no, and a lot of gamers benefitted from this just as it will benefit Xbox 360 owners of today.

Building a robust third-party library around an already solid first-party roster makes perfect business sense. I'm not sure why anyone would call this a sign of weakness on the part of MS rather than a sign of commitment to their user base. Heck, I don't even know where DarkPower is coming from by writing that MS "really didn't have anything this gen" considering you have the Halo, Gears of War, and Fable franchises to name a few.

The statement "It (Microsoft)'s more inclined on beating Sony to a miserable pulp instead of just giving us good games to play and giving us a good system to play them on" is just weord. Sure, the Xbox got beat last generation, but I don't believe any sane business exec would let grudges drive a company's campaign when billions are at stake. This is business, not some schoolyard fight.

DarkPower thinks that the commonality in third-party games will make people wonder what's unique with each system. That won't happen for too long even for the non techy crowd. Just wait for them to check the price tags and the difference becomes clear immediately. This is also where first-party games come in to make the decision easier for buyers.

"Gamers are not stupid and they will catch on (to what Microsoft is doing)" writes DarkPower. Sure they will, but will that affect their choices in which system to buy? I don't think so. Not when MS has a bigger library, a significantly lower price point, and has the same quality of software as the PS3. As loyal as some are to Sony, the Xbox 360 will be very hard to resist because it brings in a lot of goodies to the table.

Finally, DarkPower harps about how MS "ties the hands" of third-party developers. That can't be farther from the truth. Development companies enter agreements and contracts at thei free will because MS offers them incentives. Is that a bad thing? Not in an advanced liberal democracy like the US which has an economy founded on capitalism and the value of competition.

First of all you going the MS style - you try to copy original Darkpower style trying to argue with him. In other words copying others' ideas or do something basing on someone else's thoughtsThen ...1) Microsoft did a lot of job with Windows gaming but we are talking about quite different things. While MS still copy MAc OS X making absolutely unforgivable and resource-killing things like Vista, but forcing hardware manufacturers to install this sh!t on their new computers. It is a fact.2) Gabe Newell is the worst example I can imaging He can blablabing everything he wants but I always consider him to be a Microsoft Millioneer. That means he got a phat piece of MS shares a few years ago (as he worked in MS for 10+ years) More about Microsoft Millioneers you can find at Wikipedia in Gabe Newell article. So he will never do a thing that can hurt Microsoft cuz he "takes his bread from the same table" Gates or Ballmer does.3) The bigest difference between Sony and MS when they payy off to devs is that Sony paid devs for doing something, while Microsoft does for not-doing. There are so many negative aspects of bribery that it is just useless to discuss.4) It is obvious that every business exists for making money. But there is some business ethics. To explain this I have to give you a bit offensive example. I'm sure you live and you want to prosper. To prosper in the modern world is to have a lot of money. The question is are you ready to bring me your mother's head if I offer you 50 mill dollar? Someway Sony is a mother and father for Square Enix.It was Sony who invested a lot of money into Square etc. But Darkpower wrote nothing about ethics. He tried to explain that following someone else's steps is not a proper way for a leader...Sorry I'm tired of typing... the rest of your article is just your deductions far from real world

You, OpenID gunnar2906, are a bleeding idiot. Copying is very different from reacting to something. But you probably don't know what I'm talking about since you can't even get your grammar right.1. Where did you get this from? Random copy and paste? Geez. At least stay with the topic.2. Gabe Newell is part of the development of some of the greatest games in history. He can blabber all he wants coz he earned the right to. Even if he didn't there'd still be something called free speech, so gulp down on that burn sauce, fanboy.3. Bribery? Even if that was true, it's legal so boo-goo for Sony coz it let MS get away with it.4. That's the only really good point you have. I'd say yeah, there is business ethics but when two multi billion dollar businesses are battling it out, it comes down to who wants it more. If Sony didn't want to lose its "heart" then it should have paid good money to keep it. The business world is a mean place, dear, and if you can't take the heat get the hell outta the kitchen.

Great article, just ignore the irrational PS3 fanboys, they have no credibility, they'll say anything just to keep swinging from Sony's balls.

All good points you made, and since when do we bash a company for making sure its customers have the best library of games possible to choose from. These actions by MS saves me hundreds of dollars because I dont need to buy a PS3, the 360 is a complete gaming experience.

Holy crap, someone on the internet who understands that Microsoft and Sony are both in the business to make money, not play to some imaginary relationship between themselves and the people who buy things from them. Great article.

Good post man, ignore the hardcore Sony fanboys because they just cant admit the truth. I give Microsoft big props for stepping up and actually going for what the consumer wants: games. Cool blog, keep up the good work

You, OpenID gunnar2906, are a bleeding idiot.It is very nice of you to use the offensive language in reply. The great way to show everybody that you respect every opinion about your own thoughts and very fexible to critics. And for sure - that means that you are not a kid at all. Talking about my grammar you bulleyed the truth. English is not a native languare for me. But I believe that the only language you know is English. But it is ok.

I bet you are an american kid. Full of stereotypes tending to believe all sh!t that you hear around. It is obvious fact that Microsoft dont produce anything. Even software. All its products are the result of outsorsing in the third parties.

XBox 360 has never gained anything in Japan and Asia. XBox 360 has already lost its odds in Europe. The only area it has a lot of popularity is the US. But it began to loose it too. This year's NPD data showed that PS3 and 360 sales were particularly equal with a big gain of PS3 recent months. PS3 has even outsold XBox this August.If you are talking about business and ways MS does it it is absolutely truth that selling consoles must give profits. In this light MS decision to lower the retail prices for all SKUs of its console is pretty opposite to your ideas. MS showed this price drop as its awarness of holiday season. Sony confirmed that there would be no price cut this season. Why? The only reasonable answer - price drop is the only diffucult and unprofitable and the last way to keep its console on surface. Selling consoles lower then their net cost is not the best way to make money, you know.Analysing last month's NPD data Scott Greenberg boastfully declares about 42% rise of sales. It is another BS for a brainwashed kids. Why? Everyone who is in the theme knows that there are a sales fluctations during a year. Normally to the end of year sales are higher due the obvious reasons. The proof of it is that PS3's gain in September is 25%. That means that comparing to the sales of consoles we have to consider estimated (predicted) sales level for a month according to normal sales fluctuations. Calculating the gain of MS with the lowest sales margin in September (PS3's 25%) we will get only 17% of XBox sales rise in the USA. But as far as you know the last price cut made XBox 360 about 25% cheaper in average that it was in August.25% price drop and 17% gain in September show that MS tactics didnt reach its goal and MS is suffering even bigger loses. Thinking deeper MS's decision to lower price of its consoles on such a huge margin were completely faulty idea. $199 price moved XBox 360 into cheapest "PS2" league. That means that 360 stopped to be a rival console to PS3. It became a highly affordable product with an average B class games line up. Many kids who get XBox 360 for Xmas may think that his/her parents just save on him/her. Psycologicaly the more a thing unreachable the more its disirable. Plus LBP histreria Resistance 2 and more secret titles 24 sony owned studios is working on will do its job.Returning to MS credibility I must say that it lost it a year ago admitting RRoD problem. An average consumer will wary about it till the last XBox360 sold. But the main problem of MS is not that. The biggest issue is the lack of creativity, burocratic approach to the creative things and the absence of its own studios. Noone want to play MS's games. Remember Bizzare Creations' blog at the day MS set them free.So... grow up and see the things deeper that they are shown to you. The way of further development of its console MS offers has no future. The nice hardware - XBox 360 - that I own too - was the only leader 2 years ago and offered much more then it does at the moment. And your fanboism wont save it, but only creativity and focusing on its own problems instead of bashing rivals.

How come that Gabe Newell became an example to prove something about consoles and console games?? Does Newell even know a sh!t about true console gaming?? The answer is no, he doesn't. Because he is a PC-game developer and not a console game developer. And that is why Newell is the worst example as Gunnar2906 was sayng. Not to mention that he is biased to MS and thus cannot be objective in his sayings.

The most expeceted exclusives for this fall MS has to offer are PC-style Fable 2 and GeoW 2 from former PC game developers. That is why the X360 cannot even be taken seriously as a console. And that is why MS have to "steal" console-ish games from PS3.

On the contrary, I'm actually bilingual. My grandmother is from the Philippines and I can speak the language quite fluently.

Uh, you said I showed I'm not a kid at all burt in the next paragraph you said I was. Make up your mind, man.

I respect the opinions of people as long as they have the decency to post smart comments here and not some fanboyistic crao. If they enter this blog talking shit, I'll talk a bit of shit back. It's as simple as that.

Xbox 360 doesn't dpo well in Japan? Have you read the latest news? It's actually doing gbetter in the Philippines. I know coz I visited there lasy Christmas and did a bit of shopping. The reason it's doing better than the 360 is that backups can be sold there semi-openly in malls. I was also in Singapore last August and the 360 seems to do well as my friends there can attest. They own 360s.

Get your facts straight, and maybe we can have a real discussion here.

I gave Newell as an example coz he had one of the most memorable comments about the PS3 architecture. Yes, he may be biased, but as long as we're talking about third party devs preferring the Xbox 360 over the PS3, he qualifies.

Squattingdog, the fact is quite obvious. MS cannot make console-style games. That's why is have to "steal". The only console-ish first party developer for MS is Rare, that made a platform-adventure Banjo-Kazooie in three years after Kameo. And no first party game developer for MS that is able to make an action-adventure title like TeamICO or Quantic Dream or SCE Santa Monica or Insomniac or Naughty Dog.

Squattingdog,Newell qualifies in PC-style gaming. And we are talking about consoles. Newell can say anything about PS3 or X360 but he doesn't know a sh!t how yo make a true console-style game. There was a time when developers complained about programming for PS2. While they were complaining, Konami had a MGS2 and Silent Hill 2. So Gabe just admits in his lazyness as a programmer that got used to PC. And I don't play PC games.

I don't think it would be fair to say that Gabe's fat ass only develops for the PC. After all, he's worked on the Orange Box for the 360 and Left 4 Dead. You'll really have to convince me that a game has to be not an FPS to qualify as a console game. I mean, there are RPGs and action games for the PC too. Maybe not so much platforming coz of control limitations. Anyway, let's agree to disagree on that one.

Squattingdog, I'm talking not only about PS3, but about Wii as well. There's no console-ish franchises on X360, as there are on Nintendo's and Sony's consoles. True console-style games from console game developers. I'm with consoles from NES and I don't like PC-style games at all (except for old-school 3D-Actions but not for modern type PC-shooters). And I don't like what MS is doin in this generation, takin PC games and PC game developers on a console.Super Mario franchise and LBP/Ratchet/Jack are console games. You would never see anything like Zelda or Metroid Prime or Mario Kart for X360 because MS is unable to do something like that. That is why it has to steal from 3rd party developers. And that is why it hurts X360's credability as a console. I can hardly call X360 a console, because its 2 main games - GeoW and Halo - are online shooters from former pc game developers with short singleplayer mode. What kind of console is that?

Newell and Blezinsky and Moulyneux are PC-style game developers. They never did any significant contribution in developing the console gaming in the past. What exclusive games has Newell done for Saturn or N64? Or maybe Blezinsky made an exclusive 3D-action for PS1? Can Molyneux do something like Persona or Shadow Hearts? No, no and no. They a PC game developers and their games have nothing to do with true console style gaming.

As for shooters, I prefer Resistance from Insomniac because its gameplay focused on single player with about 12 hours of gameplay, variety of levels and innovative weapons. And also because Insomniac not only make shooters but platform and action-adventures games as well (Spyro for PS1 and Ratchet & Clank). When Newell will make a platform game that can be compared with Mario/Crash 1-3/Spyro 1-3/Gex, then I'll consider him as a console game developer. The fact that Left4Dead is coming for X360 doesn't make Gabe a console-style developer.

In conclusion, the marioraiders18 in the first comment said all my thoughts about an article in four words. And I am here to give his words a little explanation.

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